IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jbusin/v4y2024i4p46-864d1535325.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Central Characteristics and Critical Success Factors of Design Thinking for Product Development in Industrial SMEs—A Bibliometric Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Jazmin Estefania Olivares Ugarte

    (CIRCLE-Centre for Innovation Research, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
    Unit of Technology Transfer, Research Institute of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidad Mayor de San Simon, Cochabamba 2500, Bolivia)

  • Lars Bengtsson

    (Division of Innovation, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden)

Abstract

Design thinking is an innovative methodology that may be applied by small and medium enterprises which emphasizes a human-centered approach to problem-solving, facilitating the creation of novel solutions for complex and open-ended challenges like the development of new products. Despite its recognized importance in business and academia, many industrial SMEs struggle with applying design thinking in their product development processes. This research aims to identify the central characteristics of design thinking and its critical success factors to enable effective application by industrial SMEs. Based on a systematic search in the Scopus database (last searched 14 May 2024) for the relevant literature, which resulted in a selection of 30 published papers, with titles and/or abstract fields containing words of design thinking and small- and medium-sized enterprises in industrial sectors, and a bibliometric analysis of co-word occurrence using VOS Viewer (1.6.20 version), we construct a framework that identifies central characteristics, design thinking principles, criteria, phases, and tools, as well as four dimensions of critical success factors: strategy, culture, competences, and implementation. This finding is new as it applies to industrial SMEs, as compared to extant research’s more general orientation. The framework is presented in visual form to facilitate use in developmental workshops with SMEs and supporting actors. This paper ends with notes on limitations and proposals for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jazmin Estefania Olivares Ugarte & Lars Bengtsson, 2024. "Central Characteristics and Critical Success Factors of Design Thinking for Product Development in Industrial SMEs—A Bibliometric Analysis," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jbusin:v:4:y:2024:i:4:p:46-864:d:1535325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7116/4/4/46/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7116/4/4/46/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donthu, Naveen & Kumar, Satish & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Pandey, Nitesh & Lim, Weng Marc, 2021. "How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-296.
    2. Arnold Tukker, 2004. "Eight types of product–service system: eight ways to sustainability? Experiences from SusProNet," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 246-260, July.
    3. de Jong, Jeroen P.J. & Marsili, Orietta, 2006. "The fruit flies of innovations: A taxonomy of innovative small firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 213-229, March.
    4. Richard A. Wolfe & Daniel S. Putler, 2002. "How Tight Are the Ties that Bind Stakeholder Groups?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(1), pages 64-80, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Satish Kumar & Riya Sureka & Weng Marc Lim & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Nisha Goyal, 2021. "What do we know about business strategy and environmental research? Insights from Business Strategy and the Environment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3454-3469, December.
    2. Jan Wiers & Didier Chabaud, 2022. "Bibliometric analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship research 2009–2019," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 441-464, December.
    3. Nine Klaassen & Arno Scheepens & Bas Flipsen & Joost Vogtlander, 2020. "Eco-Efficient Value Creation of Residential Street Lighting Systems by Simultaneously Analysing the Value, the Costs and the Eco-Costs during the Design and Engineering Phase," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Katherin Carrera-Silva & Olga Maritza Rodríguez Ulcuango & Paula Abdo-Peralta & Ángel Gerardo Castelo Salazar & Carmen Amelia Samaniego Erazo & Diego Haro Ávalos, 2024. "Beyond the Financial Horizon: A Critical Review of Social Responsibility in Latin American Credit Unions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-23, September.
    5. Huang, Youlin & Qian, Lixian, 2021. "Consumer adoption of electric vehicles in alternative business models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. Kley, Fabian & Lerch, Christian & Dallinger, David, 2011. "New business models for electric cars--A holistic approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3392-3403, June.
    7. Migliavacca, Milena & Goodell, John W. & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2023. "A bibliometric review of portfolio diversification literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Shuangqing Sheng & Wei Song & Hua Lian & Lei Ning, 2022. "Review of Urban Land Management Based on Bibliometrics," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-25, November.
    9. Siri Jagstedt & Magnus Persson, 2019. "Using Platform Strategies In The Development Of Integrated Product-Service Solutions," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(04), pages 1-36, May.
    10. Dzintra Atstāja & Kevin Wilclif Mukem, 2024. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Oil and Gas Industry in Developing Countries as a Part of the Quadruple Helix Concept: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-18, February.
    11. Fabio Antonialli & Bruna Habib Cavazza & Rodrigo Gandia & Isabelle Nicolaï & Arthur de Miranda Neto & Joel Sugano & André Luiz Zambalde, 2020. "Human or machine driving? Comparing autonomous with traditional vehicles value curves and motives to use a car," Post-Print halshs-03687616, HAL.
    12. Andrés Barge-Gil & Alberto López, 2015. "R versus D: estimating the differentiated effect of research and development on innovation results," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(1), pages 93-129.
    13. Rönnberg Sjödin, David & Parida, Vinit & Kohtamäki, Marko, 2016. "Capability configurations for advanced service offerings in manufacturing firms: Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 5330-5335.
    14. Ying Liang & Wei Song, 2022. "Ecological and Environmental Effects of Land Use and Cover Changes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: A Bibliometric Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-23, November.
    15. Lanzalonga Federico & Chmet Federico & Petrolo Basilio & Brescia Valerio, 2023. "Exploring Diversity Management to Avoid Social Washing and Pinkwashing: Using Bibliometric Analysis to Shape Future Research Directions," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 41-65, March.
    16. Mansoureh Beheshti Nejad & Seyed Mahmoud Zanjirchi & Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini Bamakan & Negar Jalilian, 2024. "Blockchain Adoption in Operations Management: A Systematic Literature Review of 14 Years of Research," Annals of Data Science, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 1361-1389, August.
    17. Tommaso Elli & Alessandra Spagnoli & Valeria Maria Iannilli, 2024. "Mapping Service-Based Retailing to Improve Sustainability Practices in the Fashion Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-20, August.
    18. Satish Kumar & Filomena Maggino & Raj V. Mahto & Riya Sureka & Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo & Weng Marc Lim, 2022. "Social Indicators Research: A Retrospective Using Bibliometric Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 413-448, July.
    19. Arundel, Anthony & Casali, Luca & Hollanders, Hugo, 2015. "How European public sector agencies innovate: The use of bottom-up, policy-dependent and knowledge-scanning innovation methods," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1271-1282.
    20. Iveta Musilová & Jiří Dvořák & Jaroslav Jánský & Vladimír Bolek, 2023. "Trends in Performance Research in Relation to Business Strategy: Bibliometric Analysis and Text Mining," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(3), pages 143-174.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jbusin:v:4:y:2024:i:4:p:46-864:d:1535325. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.